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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29549043">Skycrane</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/seibelsays/pseuds/seibelsays'>seibelsays</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Humans Will Packbond With Anything [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Avengers (Marvel Movies)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen, NASA, Perseverance Rover, Robots</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 20:14:03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,433</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29549043</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/seibelsays/pseuds/seibelsays</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>There's a detail about the Perseverance rover landing that people are overlooking.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Humans Will Packbond With Anything [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2170899</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>90</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Skycrane</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>So apparently this is a series now. You're welcome, nerds.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The elevator doors slid open and Darcy quickly swiped at her eyes and cursed under her breath before anyone could see her. She locked her phone and shoved it in her pocket, determined not to think any more about the tweets she’d seen.</p><p>She <em>really</em> needed to stop getting attached to robots she’d never met.</p><p>She stomped into the kitchen, not even bothering to stop at her desk to drop off her coat before trudging in for coffee. The cabinet banged off the wall as she threw it open, searching for her favorite mug and the stash of the good coffee she kept hidden in the back. Finding both, she slammed the cabinet closed again, then set to work resetting the coffee maker for a fresh pot of the good stuff.</p><p>The coffee maker let out a few distressing beeps as Darcy jabbed at it. The tiny sounds made her pause and slow down just a little. Finally, the coffee maker started its cycle and Darcy closed her eyes, breathing in the aroma and trying to get a grip.</p><p>“Uh...Darcy? Is everything okay?”</p><p>Darcy mentally kicked herself for not noticing that she wasn’t exactly alone, then plastered a smile on her face before turning to face the voice. “Morning!”</p><p>Bucky frowned at her. “Morning,” he replied warily. “Something wrong?”</p><p>She swallowed a sigh, but kept her smile firmly in place. “Everything’s perfect.”</p><p>“Uh huh,” Bucky said, clearly not believing her. He pushed back from the table he’d been seated at, then stood and went to the refrigerator, adding more cream to his coffee mug before settling next to her to wait for more coffee.</p><p>If it were anyone else, she’d be annoyed at the assumption she’d share the good stuff. But this was Bucky. He was generally exempt from her bad moods.</p><p>“So are you going to tell me or do I have to guess?” he asked, leaned back against the counter. </p><p>Darcy sighed and let the smile slip from her face, too tired to pretend any longer. “Perseverance lands today.”</p><p>Bucky grinned. “I know, it’s great. I think we’re all going to head up to the common room to watch?”</p><p>“That’s the plan,” Darcy bit out, her voice flat and dry.</p><p>A tiny line of concern formed between Bucky’s eyebrows as he studied her. “I thought you’d be thrilled.”</p><p>“I <em>am</em>,” Darcy insisted. “Promise.”</p><p>“But?”</p><p>Darcy sighed. “But what’s the cost of all this?”</p><p>Bucky frowned. “I don’t understand.”</p><p>The coffee maker beeped, signalling that the brew cycle was complete. Darcy turned away from Bucky, stealing his mug from him and filling it from the carafe. She stole a sip from his mug before handing it back. Bucky accepted the mug back without comment. Which Darcy appreciated, seeing as she had accidentally left bright red lipstick prints on his mug. Whoops.</p><p>“It’s stupid,” Darcy muttered.</p><p>“I’m willing to bet it’s not.”</p><p><em>Your earnest concerned face is stupid.</em> Darcy dismissed the uncharitable thought and continued preparing her coffee. Finally, she leaned back against the counter and took a sip from her mug.</p><p>“It’s just...no one is thinking of Skycrane.”</p><p>Bucky’s smile was indulgent. “I’m pretty sure <em>everyone</em> is thinking of Skycrane today. It’s some pretty clever tech, if you ask me.”</p><p>“But that’s just it!” Darcy exclaimed. “The entire mission rests on Skycrane’s performance today. If something goes wrong, that’s it. Mission failure.”</p><p>“Yeah,” Bucky replied slowly.</p><p>“And what happens if Skycrane is successful?”</p><p>Bucky didn’t respond immediately, clearly trying to figure out where Darcy was going with this. “Then Perseverance’s mission begins.”</p><p>“No!” Darcy replied. “Well, okay, yes. But no!”</p><p>“Okay. What happens if Skycrane is successful?”</p><p>“She launches herself into her own fiery death, that’s what! After she drops Perseverance, she detaches, then throws herself into a fatal crash and blows up.” Darcy pouted into her mug. “I wish the airbags could have worked still.”</p><p>“Darcy,” Bucky murmured, clearly unsure what to say. </p><p>“I told you it was stupid.” </p><p>“It’s not,” Bucky insisted. “But you know that the airbags they used for Oppy couldn’t work because Percy’s carrying too much weight. The Skycrane was the only viable option.”</p><p>“I know. I don’t have to like it.” Darcy let her head fall back against the cabinet with a <em>thud</em>. “The whole world is going to be watching Perseverance. And then Skycrane will be alone when she dies.”</p><p>Bucky was looking at her with that intense stare of his. She did her best to ignore it, but even she wasn’t quite immune when he got that look in his eye.</p><p>“I don’t know if I can fix this one with a phone call, Darce,” Bucky whispered. </p><p>Darcy laughed, soft and sad. She looked up at Bucky with a grateful, if resigned, smile. “No one is asking you to.”</p><p>“It made you cry.”</p><p>Darcy felt her smile grow a little warmer. She reached out and squeezed Bucky’s hand. He squeezed back. “Come on. Let’s get this day going so we can watch the landing.”</p>
<hr/><p>“Jane, lean back, you’re blocking the screen,” Darcy laughed. “They’ll tell us when they have confirmation.”</p><p>Jane responded by leaning even closer to her screens, studying them intently. For what, Darcy wasn’t sure, but she let her friend be and turned to the television in the corner. The news feed was showing the NASA control room, tense and quiet as they waited for confirmation of the landing. Darcy tried not to count the seconds in her head. She didn’t quite manage it.</p><p>“How are we looking?” Bucky murmured as he came up behind her. As happy as she would eventually be about all this if the landing went well, she didn’t really trust that she’d be able to keep it together regarding Skycrane. Jane and Bucky didn’t count as an audience, and she was forever grateful that Bucky suggested they watch from the lab instead of at the party upstairs.</p><p>“Well, I’m pretty sure Jane is trying to crawl into her computer, although I’m not sure what she thinks she’s going to find. Otherwise, we’re just waiting for the NASA nerds to tell us what’s what.”</p><p>“You’ve never waited for NASA in your life.”</p><p>“I’ll let them have this one.”</p><p>Darcy’s phone pinged.</p><p>
  <em>@NASAPersevere I’m safe on Mars. Perseverance will get you anywhere.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>#CountdownToMars</em>
</p><p>Darcy let out a startled laugh then looked up at the television to watch the feed of NASA’s mission control cheer in relief and delight as they confirmed that Perseverance landed safely. It was a happy moment. An <em>amazing</em> moment. </p><p>She just wished that there was some way she could watch Skycrane right now, too.</p><p>“THERE!” Jane yelled, pointing at her screen.</p><p>Darcy and Bucky spun at the sound, then rushed to Jane’s desk.</p><p>“What’s up, what’s happening? Did the universe go haywire again?” Darcy asked. “Please don’t tell me there’s more aliens falling out of the sky.”</p><p>“Did we get it?” Bucky asked.</p><p>“I think we got it,” Jane replied.</p><p>Darcy leaned back a little so she could stare at both Bucky and Jane simultaneously. “Got what?”</p><p>Bucky grinned at her. “I couldn’t fix it with a phone call, Darce. But I’m not without friends on Mars.”</p><p>Darcy gaped at him briefly before looking at the screen again. “Is that...Oppy?”</p><p>“Oppy’s airbags were still intact,” Jane replied. “So we just...repurposed them.”</p><p>“Oppy <em>caught</em> Skycrane?!?” Darcy yelped. </p><p>“Yeah,” Bucky said, his voice soft. </p><p>“Not so much caught, really. See the airbags had to-”</p><p>“I got it, Jane,” Darcy laughed. “I took a physics class or two.”</p><p>Bucky was still grinning at her. “And in a few years, when the next rover goes up, it’s going to have the ability to send things back. So…”</p><p>Darcy launched herself at Bucky, wrapping him up in a hug. He caught her, a soft grunt escaping him in his surprise.</p><p>“You are the literal best, you know that right?” she said, trying and probably failing to not yell in his ear.</p><p>“It made you cry,” he replied, simply. “That can’t stand.”</p><p>Darcy stepped back. “Sap,” she teased.</p><p>“Yeah well. Don’t tell anyone,” he grumbled.</p><p>Darcy laughed and looked back at the screen, where Perseverance was sending back photos of his new home. “So are we going to leave this one unexplained too? Or are we going to admit that there might have been some, uh. Influence exerted here?”</p><p>“I don’t know,” Bucky replied. “I kinda like the idea of Oppy being a superhero.”</p><p>“Superhero status it is then,” Darcy replied. She leaned up and gave Bucky a kiss on the cheek. “Thanks Buck.”</p><p>“For you? Anytime.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I HAVE A LOT OF FEELINGS ABOUT ROBOTS, OKAY?</p></blockquote></div></div>
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